1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical disk device having a cooling fan, in particular, for avoiding waste of power consumption and reducing the operating sound.
This application is based on Patent Application No. Hei 10-202620 filed in Japan, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the general structure of a conventional optical disk device. This device comprises spindle motor 17 for rotating disk 16, and optical head 18 for writing or retrieving data of disk 16. Recently, in such conventional optical disk devices (such as CD-ROM drives or DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) drives), the heat radiated by the optical head 18 or spindle motor 17 has increased more and more.
Recent CD-ROM drives have higher rotational speeds in order to improve their performance and specification, and the heat radiated by the motor also increases. On the other hand, DVD drives employ in their pickup a head radiating a high-intensity laser beam, thereby increasing heating of the head. Therefore, such conventional disk drives must be cooled so as to prevent the optical disk device from heating.